One of healthcare’s biggest venture capital hot streaks is adding fuel to the fire, with General Catalyst and WellSpan Health entering a new partnership to drive digital transformation.
General Catalyst and Pennsylvania-based WellSpan are aiming to improve care models and patient engagement by embedding tech from the VC firm’s “health assurance network” into the health system’s operations.
GC’s health assurance network is comprised of portfolio companies with broad expertise in everything from employer benefits to population health, and includes marquee names such as Aidoc, Cadence, Olive, Sword Health, and Transcarent.
- The partnership involves no financial commitment from either party, but provides GC with insights from real-world clinical applications and allows WellSpan to invest in any co-developed solutions.
- The formula appears to be working. This is GC’s fourth health system partnership of this kind, adding to collaborations with Intermountain Healthcare, Jefferson Health, and HCA Healthcare.
General Catalyst originally found success with grandslam investments in Airbnb, Instacart, and Snapchat, but it’s been pretty hard to miss the huge waves it’s been making with its dive into healthcare.
- In July, GC raised its second $600M+ healthcare fund, which it followed up by tapping then-Intermountain Healthcare CEO Marc Harrison to helm its investment platform.
- That also wasn’t exactly GC’s first hospital exec hire, with former Jefferson Health CEO Stephen Klasko joining the firm in February… Looking back up to the names of GC’s health system partners, WellSpan might want to take a hard look at its incentive packages if it wants to hold onto its leadership.
The Takeaway
General Catalyst couldn’t make its stance on healthcare transformation any more clear: incumbents hold the keys to the innovation kingdom. The VC firm is also keen on catalyzing its own thesis, so expect plenty more health system partnerships to be inked before the end of the year.
